There She Is: Miss America

I'm sure all my Texas com padres have been to a beauty contest.........in point of fact, probably some of you have 'competed'.  Beauty pageants all have one bedrock thing in common:  Their aim is to pick the prettiest.  Oh, lots of them dress it up with talent events and social activism, but at heart it's all about which girl is judged the prettiest.  Why else do you see swim suits and ball gowns?  Let's just say that you never see a short, chubby, glasses wearing girl who sings opera and founded a non-profit organization to save wayward teens ever win a pageant.

It was quite refreshing to see  the horse version of the beauty pageant:  The beauty event of a horse show is the Halter Competition at a horse show.  In a halter event there are no saddles and no riders, no galloping, walking, reversing, cantering, trotting or anything that involves a human being judged.  In this beauty pageant there were no also swimsuits, no ballgowns, and, thank the heavens above, no piano players, no opera singers, no ballet dancers, no tap dancers, and no 'twirlers'.  (For the uninitiated:  a 'twirler' is a girl in tights who twirls a baton as well as throws it up in the air and catches it on it's downward flight.  The real talent is throwing and catching multiple FLAMING batons.  When you see that, people say, "Ooooooh" when she catches the fiery things - especially if it's behind her back.)  There's none of that in a horse beauty pageant.

To be specific:  We attended the Region VII Arabian Horse Show in Scottsdale, Arizona where we had a family member in competition.  Her name is Arbinae, and she is a young Arabian filly from championship bloodlines.  She's owned by the Five Diamonds Ranch, AKA "Dee", Drake's sister.  This was Arbinae's  first beauty pageant, and while she didn't win, she certainly didn't disgrace herself either.  All of the powers that be in the horsey world agree that she's got a bright future in the pageant circuit.  

The Arabian horse world is small and insulated.  It's composed of the same group of people as are in any narrow field of interest.   They all know one another.   They travel to shows and compete against one another, and they often own multiple horses for which they have paid terrifying sums of money.  I suppose in the horse world only thoroughbred racing is more exclusive and more expensive.  

Thus, the judging of these Halter Competitions tends to be a bit biased although the judges would argue vociferously that is not the case.  To get a grip on this world, think about judging figure skating or marching bands or a diving competition.  As we've seen over and over again in those venues, judging is pretty subjective with some criteria that is unspoken but definitely real.  You can't arrive with a three legged horse and expect to win; however, it's pretty hard to tell the difference between horse A who 'won' and horse B who almost won. 

Some of the spoken judging criteria for an Arabian Halter Competition are:  'breathing fire', 'flared nostrils', 'ears pricked', 'quivering with excitement' .  See what I mean?  There are other more obvious qualities that are judged such as conformation (are they perfectly representative of the breed), pacing (how they move), and even standing correctly.  Some of the unspoken criteria are:  How loud was the crowd cheering when the horse was being individually evaluated by the judges.  How experienced or well liked is the handler (person who holds the halter and runs the horse around the ring).  How well liked is the owner. 

At least my sister-in-law has the unspoken criteria down:  She's well liked, has a competent handler, and the attendance at the horse show was a mandated family event because she told us how important the cheering element of the judging was.  Our two year old family member (Benji) was especially good at the cheering part.  He can make a noise like a fire engine siren which is quite effective.  It was a great opportunity for a family outing, and we all got to sit in the owner's pavilion during the judging.

I've been part of the Smith family for over 40 years, and Dee has been horse crazy for as long as I've known her.  She loves horses and in the past five years has been able to finally have the stable she's always wanted.  Her ultimate goal is to be able to breed and sell horses.  That's the point of the horse beauty contest:  it's cash in the pocket when it's time for breeding.  Stud fees for contest winning horses are greater (just like race winners in the thoroughbred game) , and colts from contest winning mares are worth more money.  Arbinae has just gotten her feet wet in the arena which will help her achieve her ultimate purpose:  to produce a championship quality Arabian colt.

Now, that's the rationale for competing in the Arabian Halter Competition circuit, but, truthfully, it's because Drake's sister loves horses - the expensive ones and the plugs too.  She lavishes just as much time and attention on Pedro (a very nice, ordinary horse) as she does on Michael, her stallion, Belle (her first breeding mare) or Lightening - the ranch's first colt.  Arbinae is the newest member of the stable, and Dee has been more concerned that 'she's happy' than anything else.  I, personally, can not tell when a horse is happy, but apparently, Dee can.  She spends as many hours as possible in the barn doing a host of things which I would consider sheer drudgery.   You know you truly love something when you rearrange your life around it.  

I was glad to go to the horse show because it was a family event, and something we could all share from Drake's mom right down to Quinten who is less than 3 months old.  It wasn't until a week later that I really understood the importance of this beauty contest.  Dee wrote us a note thanking us for coming to the event.  In it she said that she had waited 32 years for that show.  Gosh, I'm so glad we were all there to share it with her.